Books

Notes and Summaries from the Books I've Read

To read the notes from each book click on any of the linked titles. I've included a short summary of the book and a 1-10 rating so you can see what you might find interesting. I've categorized them by topic, so just click the link to get to that particular section.

Generally when I take notes, I highlight the most important passages, go back and try to blend them into a long-form, yet shorter-than-the-book reminder of the key concepts. Enjoy!

Communication

My (relatively) low rating isn't necessarily reflective of the principles in the book; those are obviously timeless and things everyone should know and practice. That, rather, is the reason for the relatively low rating.

I'd still recommend everyone read the book once - it's a quick read - but the principles inside won't likely modify your thinking to a great degree, or cause a large shift in your perspective.

Rather, they're things that should be obvious, and can be summarized fairly effectively as they are below.

Entrepreneurship

Overall the book is focused on a relatively simple premise: those who have the courage to make rigorous choices between high-fidelity and high-convenience do better than those who make no clear and rigorous choices.

It's a relatively quick read, and lays out some of the details surrounding this theory, but it gives a good framework for thinking about where you are going to fit into a given market, and what you need to seek when developing a product roadmap.

I consider this one of the most important books for startup founders, and while it might be a bit less actionable than something like the Lean Startup, it provides some deeper questions, principles, and methods of thinking about the business that will last much longer.

It’s one of those books that you will continually come back to for reference when you have questions during your journey as an entrepreneur.

Language

Easily the best book about language learning I've ever read. I've tried multiple resources and methods to improve my own language skills in the past, and none of them came close to being this precise and actionable. I'll be using the techniques described over the coming months. Would highly recommend for anyone, new beginner or advanced alike.

Leadership

An outstanding book that will no doubt remain a classic for a long time. 48 Laws of Power details the laws for attaining power in life, business, and more, and gives historical examples of each law in practice, as well as examples of those who do not respect these laws.

A book I will continue to go back and reference. Those who are cynical may see some of the laws as manipulative, and some are. That said, they are all grounded in the reality of human nature, and it's more important to understand them, and then choose how, when, and which to apply, than to just remain ignorant of them and refuse to acknowledge they exist.

This is the kind of book you refer back to throughout your life in business, and I think it has the most relevance for a) an entrepreneur who is scaling up, and building a large organization, or b) someone already working in a large organization, managing a relatively large department and therefore number of people.

Very actionable advice in many areas, and certainly well thought out and methodical. Definitely recommend, just keep in mind the ideal reader profiles above.

Jocko and Leif are both highly-disciplined former SEALs who are now successfully applying the lessons they learned in the military and combat to the corporate world.

In this book he shares those principles, along with both combat and corporate examples on how they are applied.

Solid book, and if you have any interest in SEALs or combat, you’ll find the book interesting just for the stories that are told. If you’re just interested in the leadership principles, you can fairly quickly skim through and get them from the final conclusions of each chapter.

Learning

One of my favourite books ever. The best book I’ve ever read on how to master a craft, and full of great advice on how to navigate life, your career, and learning, on your path to achieving some level of mastery in your field.

The book details every step along the way from figuring out what it is you’re meant to do - your “Life’s Task” - to how to learn quickly, and the necessary auxiliary skills (ex: Social Intelligence) to succeed.

Highly recommend the book for anyone seeking to figure out their career, how to learn best, and ultimately, how to become successful.

Life

A book that has had a large impact on how I think and approach problems. Formatted after Ben Franklin’s yearly publication of advice, Munger lays out all sorts of things, from clear investing principles, to an introduction to mental models and how more people should be thinking with interdisciplinary tools.

Particularly relevant for those interested in business and finance, but as he makes clear in many of his speeches (transcripts included in the book), it should be relevant for all, from lawyers to economists. Highly recommend.

Often ranked among the most meaningful books for many, it’s fairly obvious why - the account of Frankl’s time in a concentration camp is both horrific and impossible to stop reading.

His own work in developing logo-therapy is interesting as a result; perhaps the most interesting learning is the flipping of the typical “finding life’s purpose” into recognizing that “each man is questioned by life”.

The book offers a prescription for finding one’s meaning in life, from someone who has seen the worst of it. A short, worthwhile read.

An easy read, a mix of psychology research and anecdotal experience, and touches on all the key points of how to live in your twenties. I found lots of instances where I’ve had the same thought patterns as her patients, which made it extremely relevant.

Recommended for anyone in their late teens, twenties, or parents with kids around that age group, as it will be invaluable for both. I’ll be gifting it to lots of my friends in the near future.

A fascinating book with an extraordinary amount of information. It’s difficult to get through because of the sheer quantity of information, but worth reading for Part 1 and 2 alone (focused on Life Principles).

Part 3 is the complete list of principles based around running Bridgewater, and is mostly relevant for running a large (or at least, not small) organization, so may be of limited use to some.

Would certainly recommend reading the first two parts in detail, and then investigating only the rules you find interesting in Part 3. Overall, a practical guide to both life and running an organization, and a brief look into the mind of one of the world’s top performers.

I really struggled to come up with a rating for this book. Ultimately, the rating I gave it (8/10), is a reflection of the good information that is in the book, of which there is a lot. However, the poor organization and flow tempted me to rate it much lower.

Overall, there are great sections, and a large amount of information in the book. In my opinion, the organization just makes it far too difficult to actually absorb it.

This book doesn’t reveal anything mind-blowing, but what Mark is good at is stating obvious things, reframing, and generally shaking people up with some language.

This is typically a book I recommend to people when they’re stuck in a rut, just had a breakup, etc. I’d suggest you pick it up if you’re in a similar situation. If you want to go a bit deeper, you can read some older philosophy, but this is a much easier read.

Marketing

I’m a big fan of Ryan Holiday in general, and this book didn’t disappoint. I think it’s one of his most well thought-out, and it certainly resonated with me. I put it up with his best books.

Generally an instruction manual for exactly what the title says: “Making and Marketing Work that Lasts”. It’s one of his most actionable books, going into detail about the pre-, during and post-process of creating great work.

Definitely worth reading for any entrepreneurs, creators or artists alike.

Philosophy

A fascinating book, despite being a self-admitted departure from Ryan Holiday’s usual writing.

I listened to this as an audiobook, which I think is the best way for this particular book. The story itself is fascinating - a modern conspiracy actually carried to fruition, but the questions it brings up are even better:

What would it look like if more people planned, took deliberate action, to accomplish a goal?

What if more people took action to change the world behind the scenes, instead of talking about it?

Immaculate contingency planning, humility, and resources can bring great results. Where can I incorporate these tactics in my own life?

Overall, a fun departure from typical non-fiction that I very much enjoyed. Would certainly recommend, and as I mentioned, I’d suggest the audiobook.

One of the most impactful books I’ve ever read. Overall, the books of the Incerto have changed my thinking on a number of topics, but this book has probably had the largest impact.

Essentially, the book is all about "how to convert knowledge into action and figure out what knowledge is worth”. What that really means is an in-depth examination of where in our world we apply false, naive models (typically Gaussian, or bell-curve type models), and the impact they can have.

It goes further, to talk about how we can reduce the number of these occurrences by alternative prediction methods (using fractal distributions) and mitigating our exposure to true Black Swans, which are "outliers of extreme impact", or “unknown unknowns”.

Skin in the Game is Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s (NNT) fifth book in what he calls the Incerto, and it’s the most digestible I’ve read thus far (having read all but Fooled by Randomness). This one focuses more on asymmetry (and symmetry) in everyday life, particularly on the matters of career, ethics, and life in general.

What does that mean? Basically, rules for how to detect if something is pseudo-science (scientism), rules for how you should endeavour to conduct yourself in your career in business, and mental models for thinking about risk in these categories and in life in general.

Having now read most of his books, part of the reason this was digestible was that I’m familiar with his general premises; I would recommend reading his other books first, but this one will tie them together. Highly recommend.

Psychology

Fantastic book. Everything a good book should be: concise, clear, and actionable.

This is the best book on habit formation I have read, and will no doubt be a resource I continue to come back to. James does an excellent job of providing all the required planning resources to go along with the book.

Recommend for everyone who is trying to change and build new habits (ie. pretty much everyone).

A fantastic overview of some of the most common psychological principles that rule our decision-making and lead us to poor results. This book has been cited by many, and forms the basis of many of the “mental models” frequently used by people such as Charlie Munger.

A valuable read for those wishing to improve their objectivity and thinking, as it will allow you to identify the most common psychological errors we all make in daily life.

Pink’s latest book is all about the science of timing, and what scientific studies have shown in terms of how to time our days, and our lives. It’s concise, and relevant to everyone.

One of the best parts about this book is how actionable the content is - he presents the science and studies, and then provides a “Time Hacker’s Handbook” for each chapter with resources on how to apply the lessons to your own life.

Highly recommend the book, and I’ll be making some changes to my own life using the content I learned here.

This book is an introduction to self-justification and cognitive dissonance, and by extension, cognitive biases. It’s a great overview of everyday situations and historical examples where these play a role in everything from learning to our relationships.

The takeaway: we must learn to spot our own self-justification, and stop it when required, to prevent further action based upon false self-justification.

Overall a great book that has led me to examining in more detail the cognitive biases we all are subject to, and even further to mental models which help thinking. Would definitely recommend reading.

An excellent book from Robert Greene - one of my favourites among his work, and much more digestible than some of his others.

The general concepts explored come down to fearlessness, and what he calls The 50th Law.

The book goes on to break down this law into its components, and details examples of each, as well as actionable guidelines for how to cultivate qualities and skills yourself.

It’s a book you should read and digest, and then refer back to constantly. Perhaps one of Greene’s most relevant books to life in general, it provides the set of principles by which you should live. Definitely recommend.

This book is divided into two sections, 'Thoughts' and ‘Actions’, which are essentially as they sound. ‘Thoughts’ covers Jocko’s mindset and thinking on topics ranging from stress to procrastination to eating. ‘Actions’ covers more concrete thoughts and instructions on things like sleep, diet, working out, martial arts training, and more.

Daniel Pink starts by showing that a surprisingly large portion of the workforce is engaged in “moving others” (aka selling) in some form, and that we all constantly do this in our lives. The rest of the book discusses how we can improve this skill, which, given how much we use it, is extremely important.

I haven’t yet had the chance to go through all the suggested exercises, but I enjoyed the book and found it useful. It breaks down several myths about selling that cause most of us (myself included) to view “sales” as something negative, and there’s a lot of actionable advice about how to improve our own selling.

I picked the book up originally to help me professionally, and it did, but almost the entire book can be applied to improving our own personal interactions. Definitely recommend, regardless whether you’re directly in sales or not.